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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Quilt Retreat 2010

Quilt retreat this past weekend was lots of fun and I'm still recovering from exhaustion... and the 10 pounds I gained from the great food (we definitely did not go hungry. Here's a few pictures from the weekend that were snapped on Marlena's camera (mine was left home for Darrin to use).

Nancy and Jane brought gifts for each of us. At the end of retreat last year, they were putting all our individual trash into one can and had the idea to make something out of each of our scraps. Thus we each received a miniature made from the remains of our trash cans. We also received little organizer bags, small cutting mats, and personalized scissors.

I started off working when I got there on Ian's tractor quilt and by Friday night I had it sandwiched and had started quilting on it, only to have my thread break three times within 5 minutes. So I moved on and made myself my Runaround bag.
Saturday figured out my problem and with a new needle, returned to free-motion quilting Ian's quilt. It's the first time I've done this for a whole quilt, and after a few minutes, I really got into it. It's quite fun. Of course, when I left Sunday at noon, it still wasn't quite done. I'm not sure if the quilting on it is too close. Next time I need to figure out where to start better, as I crossed the threads many times. Thankfully you don't notice it unless you examine the quilt. The stitch length is all different lengths, too, but my whole attitude while doing it was just go with it and don't look back.
I have to share what Marlena was working on, too. Her due date was 10 days away, and she was diligently working on the baby quilt. She took this quilt she had made:And, using a special template, proceeded to cut it up so that it looked like this (from the back):

About Me

Welcome to my little space in the blogsphere where I share the bits and pieces of my life. I'm married to the love of my life and the mother to my thoughtful third grader and spunky kindergartener. I teach in Nebraska, and when I'm not busy working or spending time with my family, I spend my time scrapbooking, cooking, and occasionally sewing.